Hamas and Israel strike deal to end Gaza escalation

GAZA CITY: Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas said Monday they had reached a Qatari-mediated deal with Israel to end more than three weeks of cross-border attacks. In the latest escalation, Israel has bombed Gaza almost daily since August 6 in response to airborne incendiary devices and, less frequently, rockets launched across the border. The fire bombs - crude devices fitted to balloons, inflated condoms or plastic bags - have triggered more than 400 blazes and damaged swathes of farmland in southern Israel, according to the fire brigade. "an understanding was...